The unbeaten path: Patriots the picture of perfection this season

Tuesday

Jan 29, 2008 at 12:01 AMJan 29, 2008 at 8:01 PM

With one more victory, a latter-day band of Patriots will make history. With a win over the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., on Sunday night, New England’s football team will complete a 19-0 campaign, the likes of which the NFL has never seen.

Glen Farley

With one more victory, a latter-day band of Patriots will make history.

With a win over the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., on Sunday night, New England’s football team will complete a 19-0 campaign, the likes of which the NFL has never seen.

Thus, the 2007 Patriots would go down as the greatest team in NFL history.

Then again, given the fact that, at 17-0, Csonka and the 1972 Dolphins can fall back on that argument themselves, it may be that the debate is only about to begin.

As far back as mid-November, Sal Paolantonio tried to put any such talk to rest.

“The undefeated ‘72 Dolphins were great, yes. But best ever? No way,” Paolantonio wrote on ESPN.com more than two months ago. “If they go undefeated and go all the way, the 2007 New England Patriots will claim that title.”

While there’s a lot to be said for a team that remained unscathed with 38-year-old backup quarterback Earl Morrall taking snaps as a fill-in for an injured starter Bob Griese for the better part of the year, the 1972 Dolphins did their damage against a regular-season schedule filled with teams that had a combined winning percentage of .367.

The Dolphins weren’t even considered the best team while the 1972 season was unfolding. NFC champion Washington entered Super Bowl VII as a one-point favorite, only to lose the game, 14-7.

These Patriots, on the other hand, have generally been regarded as the class of 2007.

They kicked things off with a 38-14 romp over the New York Jets and proceeded to beat six playoff teams during the regular season - which happens to be six more playoff teams than the Dolphins faced during the 1972 regular season.

So dominant were the Patriots that many complained they were bullies, running the score up on hapless opponents who were overmatched: 56-10 (Buffalo), 52-7 (Washington), 49-28 (Miami) and 48-27 (Dallas) wins tend to prompt such talk, you know.

While there was certainly validity to the talk, was it the Patriots’ fault they were that much better than their foes?

Along the way, NFL records fell like so many of the Patriots’ foes, such as:

Granted, the NFL schedule now consists of two more games, but over the course of the 2007 regular season, the Patriots outscored their opponents by 315 points. Over the 1972 regular season, the Dolphins scored a total of 385 points.

No question, the Dolphins’ “No-Name Defense” (171 points allowed) was superior to the Patriots’ (274), but New England’s unit hasn’t allowed a touchdown over the past six quarters of postseason football and made key fourth-quarter plays to help win regular-season games against Indianapolis, Philadelphia and Baltimore.

Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Matt Jones recognized what his team was up against following its AFC divisional-round playoff loss to the Pats.

“They are a great team,” Jones said after the Jags were beaten by the Patriots, “and as a fan, you don’t see a team like that until you look back to the early ‘90s Cowboys. Just watching them, they’re a special team.”

With one more victory, this band of Patriots will be better than special.